Page 23 of The Most Perfect Wrong

“Hold on a second,” Leo interjects, narrowing his eyes. “Things are a lot more complicated now that she works with him.”

“Yeah,” I scoff. “That, and the fact that she’s apparently engaged. I think she may have cheated on him when we hooked up.” I still don’t know if I feel guilty or just pissed that I got involved—or maybe it’s that I spent seven months thinking about her, only to find out she’s not who I thought she was. Either way, it’s not sitting right with me.

“Holy shit,” Michael blurts, eyes wide.

“Did you ask her about it?” Leo asks.

“Yeah, I confronted her.” I shift my weight from one foot to the other. “And I’ll admit, it wasn’t exactly my most mature moment… and I definitely crossed a line in terms of professionalism.”

Leo winces. “Shit, mate. That’s not good. What did you say?”

“I was a total prick. Made some asshole remarks about her fiancé and whether they were in an open relationship.” Michael and Adam’s shocked laughter bounces off the court walls.

“What’d she say?” Michael asks, still chuckling.

“Told me it wasn’t my business, and then threw out something about reporting me to HR. I don’t know… I fucked up. If she reports me, I could lose my job.”

Michael whistles low, shaking his head. “Man, that’s a mess.”

“What do I do?” I ask.

“Just keep it professional. Stay cordial. That’s all you can do,” Adam says. “Do you work with her directly?”

“Not right now, but there’s a big project coming up. I’ll be working with her boss, and she’ll probably be involved. We’ll have some one-on-one interactions.” I sigh, running a hand through my hair. “Worst part? I’m still so damn attracted to her.”

Michael and Adam exchange glances, then burst out laughing.

I scowl. “What’s so funny?”

Adam grins. “Dude, you’re screwed. Just admit it—you wanna fuck her.”

“Yeah, I definitely do,” I admit. “But with her being a coworker, and everything with Beth… it just feels wrong. And now that she’s engaged, it doesn’t even matter anyway.”

“Tread lightly, mate. You don’t want to make this more complicated than it already is. Just keep it professional,” Leo says.

“If she’s engaged, there’s really nothing you can do.” Michael adds. “The past is the past—just leave it there. What’s her name?”

“Cooper.”

“Okay, so focus on your work and leave Cooper at the office. But, seriously, man, you might want to get laid—just to get her out of your head, for your sanity.” Michael waves his hand like he’s solved all my problems.

Adam glances at Michael and chuckles. “You might want to consider getting laid yourself… you know, for your sanity.” He slaps Michael on the back, and we all crack up.

“Shut up,” Michael mutters, rolling his eyes.

Leo checks his phone and grins. “Well, gentlemen, duty calls,” he says, holding up his phone to show us the text from Vivian—an eggplant emoji followed by water drops.

“God, I hate you,” Michael says, pulling out his phone. “I’m texting the same thing to Stella. Any bets?”

“‘Fuck off’?” Adam suggests, laughing. “Or maybe she’ll send back a pencil. You don’t exactly give off eggplant vibes, bro.”

We all crack up as we head toward the elevator.

“Oh, and Leo does?” Michael shoots back.

“Leo’s proven he can pull off the eggplant emoji,” Adam replies with a grin.

Michael’s phone buzzes, and he bursts out laughing, holding it up for us to see—a middle finger emoji from Stella. Leo tries to smother his laugh but fails.

---